Anabel
The founding designer
Anabel
The founding designer
In 2021, I joined Maple Finance as the founding designer, embedded in an engineering-led team with no product managers and a non-technical CEO. The company’s early MVP was heavily sales-dependent and difficult to use, yet it had the potential to redefine institutional lending in DeFi. My role was to transform this product into a self-serve platform that could scale, while also embedding design into a culture that had been engineering-first.
In 2021, I joined Maple Finance as the founding designer, embedded in an engineering-led team with no product managers and a non-technical CEO. The company’s early MVP was heavily sales-dependent and difficult to use, yet it had the potential to redefine institutional lending in DeFi. My role was to transform this product into a self-serve platform that could scale, while also embedding design into a culture that had been engineering-first.
The Approach
I took end to end ownership of UX and UI across all flows - from tokenization, liquidity pools, and staking to borrower, lender, and delegate experiences. Alongside redesigning the WebApp, I worked directly with the CEO on roadmap and GTM, co-led a brand relaunch with agency partners, and mentored a junior designer. The work established design as a core part of Maple’s strategy, enabling the product to move beyond its early reliance on sales toward a scalable, user-driven model.
End to end design leadership, from flows to brand
The Approach
I took end to end ownership of UX and UI across all flows - from tokenization, liquidity pools, and staking to borrower, lender, and delegate experiences. Alongside redesigning the WebApp, I worked directly with the CEO on roadmap and GTM, co-led a brand relaunch with agency partners, and mentored a junior designer. The work established design as a core part of Maple’s strategy, enabling the product to move beyond its early reliance on sales toward a scalable, user-driven model.
End to end design leadership, from flows to brand
The Impact
The impact was significant: platform liquidity grew from $32M to $540M in just three months, contributing to over $1.9B in originated loans and a 300%+ increase in user satisfaction. Maple became a category-defining platform, later reaching $562M TVL and launching a $250M SyrupUSDC pool. This experience reinforced how design, when embedded early, can drive not just usability but also trust, adoption, and long-term growth.
Design as a driver of growth and trust
The Impact
The impact was significant: platform liquidity grew from $32M to $540M in just three months, contributing to over $1.9B in originated loans and a 300%+ increase in user satisfaction. Maple became a category-defining platform, later reaching $562M TVL and launching a $250M SyrupUSDC pool. This experience reinforced how design, when embedded early, can drive not just usability but also trust, adoption, and long-term growth.
Design as a driver of growth and trust
